Try this at training: Kick Out Cricket
Nick Wilkinson coaches the Greenwich University Men's Team and works in schools to get children engaged in rugby. Try his game to develop your players' kick chase skills
This game from Nick Wilkinson creates opportunities for players to develop their kick chase, kicking and transition skills. The game blends these skills in a game inspired by cricket. The batters aim to score the most points and the bowlers aim to score the least.
Try this as a small skill game in your sessions.
How to set up the game
Set up a grid that is 15mx20m (ideal for 6 players)
Within the grid create lines using white, blue and red cones
Split players into groups of 6 (you can create multiple grids to have multiple games going at the same time)
Organise the 6 players into pairs
How to play the game
One pair start as bowlers
The bowlers start outside of the grid, behind the red line.
Each bowler gets 3 kicks each
The bowler kicks the ball into the grid
The 4 remaining players (batters) aim to gather the kick and score points
The batters can run with the ball and must pass backwards
The bowlers aim to stop the batters from scoring
As soon as they’ve kicked they can enter the grid and chase the kick
If the batters make a mistake in their attack (forward pass, knock on etc) the turn ends.
How to score points
If the batters gather the ball and score on the red tryline they score 6 points.
If the batters score on the white tryline they score 4 points.
If the bowler’s kick goes straight out of the grid, the batters score 1 point.
If the bowling team regather their own kick it will tactically be the best game for them.
How the game can develop players
It gets the bowlers thinking tactically - if they aim to kick the ball between the white and blue cone it will tactically be the best kick for them.
It can help players practice a kick chase and their kicking skills
Progressions to level up the game
Limit the amount of touch tackles the attackers have to try and score. For example: they have 3 touch tackles, if they don’t score before the 3rd tackle they don’t gain any points.
If the ball carrier gets touch tackled, the turn immediately ends
The bowlers must do drop kicks
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